Messages - vinylisbetter

I grew up in the South, and I have lived in Arkansas, Texas, Louisana, and now I live in NYC. I have to say that the nice, friendly Southerner stereotype is accurate as long as you are white, Christian, Conservative, love guns, and of course don't care too much for women's rights. If this is you, you'll love Nashville and you'll find that the people there are awesome. If not prepare to be judged.

Wasn't in the mood to post, but I got to call bull on this one. The only places I've lived in my life are intown Atlanta, New Orleans, and outside of Asheville, NC, and your statement about Southerners is, from my experience, just plain wrong. I have never lived in the rural parts of the South, or even the suburbs for that matter, but city living in the South doesn't even remotely fit your description.

EDIT: Actually, I do currently live in the "rural" South (outside of Asheville) and stand by my statements.

The most informative quote on that thread comes from Stephon Devante, a good man:

I emailed to inquire as to the conservative nature of the school. Ryan Willard, Coordinator of Admissions, replied,

"As a former student here at Vanderbilt and a current employee of the school, I would say that the atmosphere is balanced. To break it down a bit; institutions of higher education typically have a leftward bent in the political spectrum. Vanderbilt, because itís in the south and a reputation for affluence, tends to get the conservative label. Perhaps in the continuum of political views, it is a little right of its counterparts, but I suspect that it places the school in a more centered position. The students who are here find it to be a place that allows for open debate. In other words, students donít feel oppressed or shunned because they lean right or left. I hope this is helpful. Do you have any other questions? I am happy to answer as candidly as possible."

Just to let you know, that was probably my biggest point of concern about Vanderbilt too. I've only lived in the South (Atlanta, New Orleans, North Carolina) but I've had a pretty liberal upbringing and I've had limited contact with any conservative/Republican folks. So when I went to Vandy for the open house weekend, I was definitely trying to figure the political scene out...

I got to ask a few students about the conservative nature of Vandy when certain red flags came up (i.e. one guy told me that he took some time off before law school to work for the Dean campaign; another dude was working for some Democratic lobbyist group in D.C.) and everyone seemed to say that it's not an issue at all. But the answer is still that there are probably more conservatives there than some other law schools-- after all, it's still the south. Nonetheless, my fears were put to rest during the weekend.

One thing that I noticed about Vandy is that everyone seemed to be down with one another-- as I'm sure you know, it's a pretty small entering class, and there seemed to be a we're-all-in-this-together mentality overall. However, I didn't see too many weirdo-looking kids (a shame!) so maybe they were all locked in the basement or something.